[2nd Named]
[Level 48 Lesser Demon]
[HP 45,560,771 / 50,000,000 (91%)]
The first encounter is always difficult with any Named boss.
The process of clashing to learn patterns and establishing a damage cycle fitting those patterns is important.
For example, in the case of the demon’s pattern of swinging its arms left and right, you only need to block the 2nd hit that has knockback. You can take the 1st hit and cover it with potions, or if your physical ability allows, you can continue attacking while avoiding damage through agility-based movements.
And you continue the damage cycle by squeezing in strong skills taking advantage of the delay after the next attack.
For Warriors, after countering the knockback pattern, 2 Dragon Fists, 2 Straight Punches, Roundhouse Kick and Spinning Kick, then resist the area ground slam with Backward Evasion and approach with an Uppercut.
Like this, the most efficient damage cycle is established through repetitive practice. After becoming skilled, you can even pull out more than twice the damage dealt in the first try.
In that sense, the 2nd Named boss ‘Lesser Demon’ in front of the ‘Chris Raid Party’ is an excellent punching bag.
Chris’s party has killed similar guys to the point of boredom in Astria Online’s second elite dungeon, ‘Sealed Demon’s Tomb’. It just has much more HP and faster patterns.
Boom, boom! Swish swish swish!
Deathly Death standing firmly in front of the demon continuing attacks like flowing water, Cherni and Bae Merong constantly squeezing in damage while slightly avoiding the linear range of threatening frontal flame patterns.
Chris smiled, gripping talismans.
This is a favorable condition for Chris’s party.
They’ve always fallen behind due to Rain’s pattern adaptation ability that pulls out overwhelming damage output from the first encounter with Named bosses, but when facing a familiar Named boss, Chris party’s damage output surpasses Rain who is alone.
The problem is still the special patterns. It will definitely be different from the ‘Sealed Lesser Demon’.
The demon’s HP has already reached the 90% point.
Chris warned her party members.
“From now on is important! There’s absolutely no way we’re taking down this much HP with pure damage! You saw the mid-boss, right? Look carefully around the battle area! Special objects or adds might appear!”
Tap, tap!
The 3 DPS members except Deathly Death scattered in all directions. We don’t know where special objects will appear from. Positioning to respond quickly is important.
As Chris expected, the Lesser Demon that entered 90% HP started a special pattern.
Growl!
Woong! Boom!
The demon that roared once jumped after stomping its foot, then landed with its back to the door leading to area 3.
Woong, whoosh!
Red demonic energy started gathering in the demon’s huge hands. At the same time, the demon’s body was enveloped in powerful flames. Even the ice on the Ice Palace floor that seemed eternal was melting little by little.
Deathly Death who was about to stick close to the demon immediately frowned and distanced himself.
“Ugh, I can’t approach closer than a certain distance! Flame damage is coming in from the surroundings!”
“A pattern blocking approach?”
Thud, thud! Whoosh.
“It’s immune to ranged projectiles!”
The flames radiating from the demon’s body even swallowed up the ranged dealers’ projectiles.
Chris’s order came down.
“From now on don’t pay attention to the demon! Look carefully around the battle area!”
It’s a type of pattern that doesn’t allow dealing damage during the special phase. We need to perform the gimmick. If we fail? The demonic energy the demon is gathering will take the form of a party wipe skill and sweep over the party members.
Woong.
Chris’s prediction was right.
Along with a resonant sound, three ‘Lesser Demon’s Phantoms’ appeared from three directions in the battle area.
If we put the Named demon’s direction at 12 o’clock, they are at 3, 6, and 9 o’clock positions respectively.
Chris made a judgment with instantaneous wit.
“Deathly Death, to 9 o’clock! I’ll take the demon at 6 o’clock! Cherni, stick your spirit gnome to the demon at 3 o’clock! Bae Merong, watch the overall situation from the center!”
Tap, tap, tap!
Chris’s party members except Bae Merong moved in unison, each taking charge of one add.
Boom, boom, boom!
The phantoms’ patterns were very simple. Exactly the same as the mid-boss. Just the pattern of continuously launching demonic energy bullets. Chris’s party easily continued tanking each one.
But.
“It has 20 million HP! Same as the mid-boss!”
“It doesn’t seem like we can take this down with pure damage either?”
Hearing Cherni and Bae Merong’s shouts, Chris tried using a down skill on the phantom in front of her.
Like the 1st Named boss we just caught, this guy might take a special gesture if inflicted with status effects.
Either disappear as is, or spit out objects used in gimmicks.
Tap, tap, tap.
Talismans stuck around the phantom forming a magic circle, and the yin-yang jade spun around once aiming for the lower body. Using two skills simultaneously to induce down through ‘status effect combo’.
Pop!
The talismans exploded, and the yin-yang jade swept past the phantom’s legs.
The demon’s phantom was still standing firmly.
“Immune to status effects!”
“Stun doesn’t work either! What do we do?”
Chris gritted her teeth and looked towards Deathly Death.
“For now, Cherni and Bae Merong focus damage on the phantom Deathly Death is handling! Keep the spirit stuck on!”
Pop pop pop!
While the party members’ damage was focused on one phantom, Chris surveyed the battlefield.
No special objects are visible. Status effects don’t work either.
Is taking it down with pure damage really the correct conquest strategy?
Of course not.
Roar!
The Named demon that was gathering demonic energy alone while spewing flames started acting before Chris’s party members could even take down one phantom.
Swoosh!
The huge red sphere created in the demon’s hands emitted light. It soon fell to the center of the battle area containing mighty power.
Crash!
Soon, the entire battle area was swept up in hellfire.
The unending flames even swallowed up party protection skills.
Special phase, time over. Party wipe.
“Ugh.”
“It’s hopeless.”
“Rain takes it down on the first try, why can’t we?”
Chris’s party members who revived at the entrance to area 2 started complaining.
“This is actually normal. We need to unravel the knots one by one while doing tries.”
Chris nodded her head.
It’s just that the baseline has risen because Rain showed ridiculous godly power, but Chris’s party’s progress is definitely not slow. In fact, within the range Chris knows, only Chris Raid Part and Rain have broken through the 1st Named boss.
“Even if the answer key is revealed through the screen Rain is streaming, repetitive practice is needed to adapt to patterns and break through Named bosses.”
“Swish swish, it reminds me of the uncle drawing pictures saying ‘It’s easy, right?’. When it’s absolutely not easy. Hehehe.”
Chris also smiled slightly at Bae Merong’s wisecrack.
Cherni opened the streaming site while watching Chris’s reaction.
“I wonder how Rain is doing?”
“Hmm…”
This was actually a very curious part for Chris too.
No matter how much she has a Legendary weapon, it won’t be easy this time.
Rain’s advantages.
Crazy fast adaptation ability that inputs full damage on first encounters with Named bosses. Godlike movements that avoid all irregular patterns of multiple Named bosses while pulling out overwhelming damage output.
But the ‘Lesser Demon’ is a single entity boss with patterns familiar to users.
A boss where Rain’s advantages fade, plus unfamiliar special patterns on top. Can Rain break through it in one go?
Chris had complicated feelings.
She’s a bit worried, but also wants to clear it herself first due to pride.
But in the end she sighed and turned on Rain’s broadcast.
“Well, shall we take a look at the answer key Teacher Rain is solving?”
“Ahem. I’m certainly curious.”
The party members gathered around Chris and brought up the streaming screen.
Thud thud thud thud!
What came into the screen showing the entire 2nd Named battle area was:
The Named demon spewing flames and gathering demonic energy, demon phantoms appearing from three directions, and a silver-white form quickly roaming the battlefield.
The Named ‘Lesser Demon’s HP was 30%.
Chris let out a groan.
“The 30% special phase…!”
“Our party was wiped out in the first special phase! How did she get past the previous special phases?”
“We can see now.”
Deathly Death’s sharp eyes followed the silver-white form on the screen, Rain’s figure.
Boom, boom, boom, boom!
Rain, who moved quickly while avoiding the phantoms’ demonic energy bullets flying at her, arrived in front of the first phantom. She immediately lowered her body and kicked the phantom’s legs, then swung her sword, slashing its lower body.
Whack! Thud.
The demon’s phantom afflicted with down status effect soon disappeared, emitting strong light.
Chris was astonished.
“W-why!? When I did it there was down immunity!”
“Wait, Chris. Can you see? The three phantoms look slightly different.”
“Ah…!”
The demon’s phantom now sprawled on the floor disappearing.
Its legs were thinner than the other entities.
Cherni and Bae Merong were dumbfounded.
“Crazy…!”
“The, their appearances are really slightly different!”
Tap tap.
Rain who vanquished the phantom at 3 o’clock immediately turned her body back and activated Backward Evasion. In an instant, Rain’s body that moved through space reached in front of the phantom at 6 o’clock.
Rain grasped ‘Astaroth’ emitting silver light with both hands and slashed upwards powerfully from below. At the same time she lowered her body and planted her hand on the ground, raising both feet to kick up strongly.
Whack!
The phantom’s body floating in the air also disappeared, emitting strong light.
“This phantom is a bit smaller. It looks light, the minimum that can be launched into the air.”
Flash!
As soon as Deathly Death’s words ended, Rain’s body that became a beam of light arrived in front of the phantom at 9 o’clock. She narrowed the distance through Flash Strike.
“She’s using Backward Evasion and Flash Strike as movement skills.”
“Because it’s solo play. In party play, each class could take one phantom each according to the status effect skills they have.”
Roar!
Solo play. Time was certainly tight.
While Rain dealt with two phantoms, the Named demon was gathering demonic energy to the extreme.
If there’s even a slight delay, the skill that wiped Chris’s party will come flying.
The last phantom had a slightly bigger head. Probably ‘stun’ will be needed.
To vanquish the phantom, two consecutive stun skills need to be applied.
Two stun skills are required, but Swordsmen only have one stun skill ‘Pommel Strike’.
What will she do?
“Rain…!”
Chris watched Rain’s figure standing in front of the last phantom with sweaty palms.
Tap.
Rain dove into close range of the phantom without delay and struck its abdomen with the sword handle.
Whack!
Pommel Strike hit. The phantom staggered once then soon raised its hand to throw demonic energy.
Woong!
Tap. Rain’s body jumped slightly into the air, and whoosh! She spun around once widely while stretching out her foot.
Whack!
The phantom hit in the temple by Rain’s kick soon stopped moving and disappeared.
“She seems to kick better than Warriors.”
Deathly Death clicked his tongue.
Virtual reality game, ‘Astria Online’.
Theoretically, not only status effect skills through skills, but direct body movements can also inflict status effects by striking vital points.
But theory is just theory. In practice, freely aiming for vital points is not easy even for Deathly Death who has boxing experience.
But Rain? She simply struck vital points.
As if it’s a skill that should obviously be used.
Roar!
The Named demon’s red demonic energy sphere took complete form.
Rumble!
At the same time, a huge ice mirror appeared in the center of the battle area.
All phantoms vanquished, object appearance.
Rain hid her body behind the ice mirror.
Crash!
The demonic energy sphere that soon flew in was absorbed into the mirror, converted to cold energy and shot at the demon.
Swoosh! Crack!
Grrrah-!?
Absolute zero cold that even extinguished hellfire froze parts of the demon’s huge body. The demon’s HP started decreasing continuously.
Rain’s starlight poured towards the demon afflicted with ‘frostbite’ status.
The demon could no longer resist.
Swish.
Chris stood up with her back to her speechless companions.
And looked back at her dumbfounded party members with a grin.
“What are you doing? Teacher Rain revealed the answer key for us. Let’s go solve the problem.”